The present invention relates, generally, to the remote purchasing of products or services, and more particularly, to an enhanced system and method for the remote purchasing of products or services via a network, wherein a buyer is permitted to indicate as specific physical location where the products or services will be claimed and identify a third-party as the recipient of the products or services.
Currently, there are many issues that arise for a person who would like to remotely purchase a beverage (or food product, or other item) for someone else. First, in typical cases, both the purchaser and the recipient must be physically present at a venue where the purchase transaction takes place. Therefore, the purchaser must be physically and temporally proximate to the target venue in order to purchase a beverage for someone at any given time.
Furthermore, in many cases the person who would like to purchase a beverage may not be aware of the location of a suitable venue, or, more acutely, may not have information about the specific venues that the intended recipient considers suitable. In addition, even once the location of a venue suitable for purchasing a beverage in has been identified, there is, in some cases, a lengthy process of physically locating the venue, and in some cases a situation in which the venue is closed, too busy or otherwise inaccessible.
Another issue facing a purchaser trying to go through this process is the fact that if the purchaser locates the venue, travels to the venue and the venue is open, there is no means of purchasing a beverage for another person without them physically being present at the time of purchase. In most cases there are no means to purchase a beverage for a later date, whereby the recipient of the beverage is able to collect the purchased beverage later that day or on even another day altogether.
The above issues are multiplied if a person wants to buy several beverages for several different persons in different venues and on different days. The purchasing process would have to be repeated several times, and in the case where one would like to make several purchases at widely dispersed locations at roughly the same time, it therefore becomes an unattainable goal.
One known solution to these problems would be to telephone or visit a venue, provide payment and make an arrangement with staff at the venue for the recipient to claim said beverage at a future date. This solution would also require alerting the recipient in enough detail to claim the beverage and the venue in enough detail to positively identify the recipient. This solution suffers from the amount of effort and time involved, uncertainty about properly informing the recipient, uncertainty about whether the venue will truly honor the purchase, and many of the issues (such as identifying and contacting a suitable venue) as described above.
Another known solution, which does not relate to the scope of the invention being discussed, would be to purchase a packaged form of beverage (a bottle of wine, a bag of dried tea) that could be delivered to the recipient in any of the usual fashions. This solution does not typically involve a venue with a specific location as part of the claim transaction.
From the venue's perspective, a very large problem with existing processes for purchasing drinks, as set forth above, is the loss of potential customers and earnings. Unless a venue has established some kind of remote purchasing service, they are losing out on potentially significant revenue generating opportunities and the opportunity for repeat business from new or existing customers.
Another issue that a venue faces today is the issue of making consumers aware of its existence and establishing and maintaining relationships with existing and potential customers. As it stands today there are many means and medias for a venue to use as promotional and information tools, but the fact that there are so many creates a problem for the venue of identifying the effectiveness of many of the tools. Also, many of the media, such as yellow page advertisements, are static, in that they do not provide specific feedback to the venue about their effectiveness or interactivity with a potential customer and cannot be updated frequently. Every venue wishes to be found easily using different tools, but it is increasingly difficult to ensure the information is current (especially, e.g., if the venue hosts a calendar of events), accessible, and inexpensive for both venue owner and customer alike.
Other issues facing venues are the desire to increase customer traffic and revenues and the desire to reduce overall marketing costs. Currently, most venues have a maximum capacity of persons set by the local authorities and thus can only increase revenues by increasing the number of patrons up to capacity, by increasing throughput, or by increasing the profitability of customer purchases. Given that patrons cannot be increased past capacity or throughput increased beyond a certain physical limit, venue owners may be unable to increase their revenues beyond a certain point without adding new capacity or throughput capability. In addition, when a location is too busy it is likely to have an adverse effect on throughput.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a process and service that reduces the amount of time and effort required by a venue to attract and process customers wherever they may be. It is also a desire on the part of venues to be empowered when using media as an advertising tool. Allowing customers to purchase beverages without physical presence assists a venue in dealing with the issues described above. Remote purchasing creates a level of service to consumers unsurpassed in the industry today.
In addition to customers and venues, other agents that are party to the above process face certain difficulties. Beverage manufacturers and distributors often do not receive direct information about consumer purchases, tastes and behavior from venues. When such information is received it is likely to be anecdotal rather than systematized. As well, marketing activities directed at consumers are not often made directly to consumers, but are proxied through the venues or various consumer-focused media channels.
Marketers who would like to promote third-party products to the consumers who visit these venues also do not have a way to gather information or interact directly with these consumers in a remote fashion, but must be physically present (and often must negotiate the right to be so with the venue owner) or proxy their services through the venue owner and staff.